CHATHAM, Mass. - (Left to right) A Coast Guard 42-foot motor lifeboat, 36-foot motor lifeboat and 44-foot motor lifeboat gather in front of Coast Guard Station Chatham Friday, Oct. 3, 2008, for what may be the last opportunity for the three lifeboats to ever be underway together again. The 36-foot lifeboat, which is now owned by the Orleans Historical Society of Orleans, Mass., is scheduled for dry dock, and the maintenance may not be completed before the 44-foot lifeboat is decommissioned. The most notable rescue by the 36 was in 1952 when the boat crew rescued 32 men from the tanker Pendleton after it broke in half in 60-foot seas. (Coast Guard photo/Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Jorgensen)

There two excellent books on the S.S. PENDELTON rescueTwo Tankers Down
by Robert Frump (which also details the S.S. FORT MERCER rescue as well). Review from Professional Mariner.

And, The Pendleton Disaster off Cape Cod: The Greatest Small Boat Rescue in Coast Guard History by Theresa Mitchell Barbo; John Galluzzo; and Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (RET)

Excerpt from the book about the Rescue Swimmer Program, So Others Might Live giving a brief sketch of the origins of the program. (You can learn more about the behind the scenes efforts by reading this article.)

Sec. 9 of Public Law 98-557 (98 Stat. 2862, Oct. 30, 1984) A bill to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal years 1985 and 1986, and for other purposes. "Directs the Secretary to establish a helicopter rescue swimming program to train Coast Guard personnel.", See also Senate Report.

Sec. 9, required Secretary of department in which Coast Guard was operating to use such sums as necessary, from amounts appropriated for operation and maintenance of Coast Guard, to establish helicopter rescue swimming program for purpose of training selected Coast Guard personnel in rescue swimming skills, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 104-324, title II, Sec. 213(b), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3915.

Also, as a direct result of the MARINE ELECTRIC disaster, Congress required in Sec. 22 of Public Law 98-557 immersion suits on most commercial vessels (except uninspected vessels. e.g. fishing vessels and towing vessels). See also Senate Report.

Robert R. Frump the nationally recognized journalist who won several major awards while a journalist and investigative reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in the small farm town of Paxton, Ill, graduated from the University of Illinois and received a master's degree from Northwestern University -- all in journalism. He received, with Tim Dwyer, the George Polk Award, for his reporting on unsafe U.S. ships, and the Gerald Loeb Award for National Business Reporting. He was also a member of an Inquirer task force that won the Pulitzer Prize. He is married to Suzanne Saxton-Frump. They have two daughters, Sarah, a student at Brown University, and Caitlin Dean, a software engineer. He is the former managing editor of The Journal of Commerce.

It's a book-length electronic-publication with stories ranging from tug boats on the river, to rescues, to shipyards, to port marketing, oil tanker crossings, aircraft carriers and of course the Marine Electric.

You don't have to own a Kindle to access the book. Just download the Kindle software to your computer or smartphone.

NAVY Memorial, Washington, DC

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

"When you know you have saved somebody’s life, the only word to describe it is: euphoria. This is what we join the Coast Guard to do — there are many other missions we have — but this what we join the Coast Guard to do, save other lives. There is absolutely no better feeling than when somebody says, "Thanks, you saved my life."